Ok - so let's talk about clipping out going up hill

[Mako]

As I said in the previous 'fear' thread this is my main concern.

Its hard not to panic if you can't get your foot out on the first first try.....
When this happens I just concentrate on getting up the hill. The fear of falling over usally gets me to the top

[Catrin]

This is one reason I chose to go with mountain bike pedals for my road riding though I use platform pedals on my mountain bike for now. I was surprised how many mountain bike shoes had hard plastic soles, but found a pair of Mavic women's mtn bike shoes with rubber lugs that are a little grippy. These will NOT slip on pavement, unlike my Bontragers that have been relegated to spinning class only.

I must admit this is a fear of mind as well, though there is only one hill in my area that causes me this concern. For now I avoid that hill - though at some point this summer I will tackle it. I've only been able to actually ride it once, though I've walked it quite a few times. It is quite short, only a third of a mile long, but quite steep. I am pretty sure I would just topple over, but one of these days I will brave it. There is another hill that is much longer that I want to ride clipped in first...

[indysteel]

I more or less do what Gnat and Darcy have suggested. If you anticipate having to stop, even if just for a couple of pedal strokes, you can usually unclip and stop safely. I'd give on other piece of advice. If you are riding with other people, announce that you're going to stop and try not to stop in someone else's path.

@Catrin: I think I know the hill you're talking about. Get out there, girl! You're stronger, the Gunnar is lighter, and you have some super easy gears. There's no reason that you won't be able to make it to the top. Have some confidence!

[Artista]

I have the same problem unclipping while riding up very steep hills on my mountain bike. (I don't ride many steep hills on the roadie.) For those who haven't experienced this, here are some of the issues:

• Pushing so hard to maintain enough momentum to avoid tipping over that we don't have even a micro-second to slow the pedals enough to unclip
• It's tough to reestablish contact with the pedal in the micro-second after unclipping to maintain enough momentum to slow & stop the bike.
• Sometimes my legs are so tired that I've lost the coordination to unclip on the first attempt. Even one unsuccessful attempt is enough to slow the momentum enough to make me tip over.
• Riding a mountain bike uphill on single track doesn't allow for steering across the trail to unclip & stop.

This difficulty with unclipping on hills has prevented me from tackling a a very long, steep hill on my favorite trail. I've decided to attempt part of this hill on my next ride by lowering my saddle a bit & riding unclipped with the pedals centered under the arch of my foot / shoes. My plan is to continue riding parts of this hill until I develop enough strength to ride the whole thing. Once I'm stronger, I'll try riding it clipped in. This process could take me a year or more considering even my very strong husband sometimes can't make it all the way up this hill.

[Catrin]

@Catrin: I think I know the hill you're talking about. Get out there, girl! You're stronger, the Gunnar is lighter, and you have some super easy gears. There's no reason that you won't be able to make it to the top. Have some confidence!

The funny thing is I am absolutely fearless on BMX pedals, you would think it would be the other way around Don't get me wrong, I do like my Frogs and they are super easy to get in/out of - but if it wasn't so obvious that my knees need to be clipped in...

It is only in this area that clipless makes me nervous, and not for most hills. Just those hills (really only one hill) that I've so much experience walking in the past...I just need to ride out there and beat that hill. The problem is it beats me before I ever see it. I HAVE ridden it once without walking, but haven't attempted it since my injuries started manifesting last fall...

[gabriellesca]

Thanks Owlie for explaining. I'm a visual person so a stick figure diagram would come in useful. But I get it now.

Smitty - I will, sometimes, unclip when I'm a bit far from a stop if its very congested and pedal a few strokes with my foot on the platform. But I can't really do this for more than one or two rotations. My clips are not that tight and I generally can get unclipped on the first try - though sometimes I need a second try.

Julie - I have also gone through this and amazed myself that the fear has pushed me up the hill, even at 3 mph.

Thanks everyone - REALLY appreciate the feedback. And as with anything in life, its always helpful to know you're not the only one fearful of something. I guess just something I need to work on.

[DarcyInOregon]

Remember that it isn't the hill that one fears, but the steepness of the road. Every one of us has a grade that is too steep for us, that we can go up to a certain max grade for a specific max distance, and anything above that combination is too much and we can't bike the climb.

It helps if I can see the top of the climb. However a lot of climbs are miles long with curves in the road, and if I can't see ahead that the grade might be getting less steep, I will struggle. I know how steep I can get and for what distance, and so long as I am under those two numbers I will continue, but as I said, if the grade goes over 18% and I can't see the top of the climb, I will look for a place to turn into on the right, unclip, recover and walk if it is necessary.

If it is a planned ride, group or event, and I know there is a category 2 climb on the route I will drive the climb first to see where I can stop to recover. I've done enough climbing so that I know I am ok with biking categories 5, 4 and 3. Last month I did my first category 2 climb, which was 5.5 miles of climbing with grades of 9-13%, lesser grades were at 6%, and I really struggled. I now know that at this point in my life that a category 3 is my limit, that I can do a category 2 if necessary, and a category 1 is most likely impossible for me and I have no desire to even attempt a category 1. The descent on that category 2 I biked last month was just terrible, hated it more than the climbing. Earlier, male cyclists didn't make a curve on the steep 8-mile descent, crashed horrifically, and were transported out by life helicopter. As it was, one little pebble spun out from my tire with great velocity, hit my upper left thigh, and left me with a huge nasty bruise, just one little pebble did all of that damage. It made me think that I really have no desire to do a category 2 climb again if on the other side is an 8-mile steep descent that can potentially cause me injury or death. I will leave it to the alpha males.

I did drive the category 2 climb and descent first, saw where I could stop to recover and get started on the bike again. I used side roads and gravel drives to make my stops.

Hills where you can see the top are different because the distance is less, typically under one mile. Also, how steep of a grade a cyclist can climb will be unique to each cyclist because everyone has a different power/weight ratio, which means I will stop around 18-20%, others might stop at 11%, and real good climbers don't have a limit at lower altitides, but may suffer at higher altitudes.

[TrekTheKaty]

This only happened to me once. It was a monster and by the time I realized I wouldn't be able to clip out, it was too late. The fear of falling got me over to top. Relax (drop shoulders), breath (seriously), pedal. Repeat.

Just get out there and do it. My fear used to be riding on the road and being hit from behind. I learned: 1) that's not the most common accident 2) take the lane instead of hugging the curb 3) Longer distances would only be possible if I took to the road

[OakLeaf]

Well said, Darcy.

Only two things you didn't mention -

(1) Gearing. The same person with the same legs might be able to climb a hill with their 30x27 that they wouldn't be able to with the 42x21 low gear on the race bike they used to ride 25 years ago. Not anyone I know of course. (Last week I spent a couple of hours shooting the sh*t with someone I used to ride with back in the day. I felt sooooooo much better when he broached the topic of the hills he couldn't climb with the gears we both used to run.... )

(2) You can pull off on the descents, too. Unclip, let your rims cool off and your adrenaline settle down, go back out.

It's all good.

[Biciclista]

It happened to me once too. I could not use that advice about turning so my clip out foot was in a good place because there were CARS there. I ended up getting as close to the curb as I could and just laying the bike down. There was a grassy strip so it was a happy painless ending to a scary climb!